I am in Europe and an opposite problem is that the emission control systems of recent (gasoline) cars are not noise insulated... After you stop a car, it is random artillery for two hours (apparently as they cool down from temperatures of many hundreds degrees).
(Edit: I just replaced 'the opposite problem' with 'an opposite problem'... Former form was misleading.)
- motorbikes (with modified exhausts or not, at high speeds the engine itself is loud enough to disturb sleep of thousands of people)
- 'sport' car abominations with intentionally loud exhaust and engine noises
- some diesel cars (old vans etc) are very loud, in this case it's just the nature of the diesel engine.
The city is now investing tens of millions of euros to retrofit a noise barrier to protect our neighborhood. I think our house surfers the most from the noise. Yet - if it only wasn't for those loud motorcycles I would think the noise barrier is unnecessary. It would be much more cost effective to set and enforce noise pollution rules than to build expensive noise protection infrastructure everywhere where people live close to roads.
It will probably also depend on the make.
But look, if you are trying to understand which noise I was referring to: stop some gasoline cars, from euro-5 on, after the engine has been on for a good number of miles, and after a few minutes you will hear like a "loud bang on metal" (very distinct from the usual crackles from the cooling metal), like a coiled spring loudly released, then after more minutes another one... Even after an hour, or more, it will randomly go on... Silent for a long time, then "bang".